Database to list stolen passports

May 6, 2007|The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security will begin using an Interpol database of stolen passports to screen foreign travelers later this year and is exploring whether to set up a unit at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, that would investigate any stolen documents the screeners turn up, officials said Saturday.

DHS expects to launch a 30-day pilot of the screening system at one U.S. airport by fall and, if it is successful, will expand the program nationwide immediately thereafter, department officials said.

Interpol Secretary General Robert K. Noble said Friday that he also asked U.S. officials to consider encouraging other nations to support a port and border security unit to follow up on reports of stolen passports.

Security officials have long regarded stolen travel documents as a virtual weapon in the hands of potential terrorists. They are particularly worried about the theft of blank passports that can be used to produce counterfeit versions.

They cite the case of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, after entering the United States carrying a stolen Iraqi passport and seeking asylum. More recently, Mexican authorities in January arrested 11 Iraqis in Monterrey on their way to claim asylum in the United States. The group had eight passports that were among a batch of 850 passports stolen from Cyprus in 2003.